7396 Birds. 



Efff/s, 3 — 6. Brown, marbled and thickly covered willi darker spots 

 or blotches, more especially at the larger end. 



Kestrel, Falco tinnunciilus. 



SUuation. Mountain rocks and sea cliffs, but sometimes takes pos- 

 session of the deserted nest of a crow. Mr. Gurney records (Zool. 1820) 

 the fact of a pair of kestrels nesting in a hollow pollard oak. 



Materials. Sticks, hay, wool, slight, loose and slovenly. 



Eggs, 4—6. Red-brown, or whitish with darker blotches. 



Spareowhawk, Falco nisus. 



Situation and Materials. Often adopts the nest of a crow or mag- 

 pie in tallish trees, but certainly sometimes builds its own of slicks, 

 &c., making a flat platform at first. 



Eggs, 4 — 6. Bluish white, with red-brown blotches at the larger end. 



Kite, Falco milviis. 



Situation. Tall trees, placed in a strong fork. I have never known 

 of a nest of this bird. 



Materials. Sticks, lined with a quantity of soft materials, especially 

 wool. 



Eggs, 3. Gray-white, speckled and streaked with orange-brown, 

 principally at the larger end. 



Buzzard, Falco hiiteo. 



Situation. Woods, in moderately high trees. 



Materials. Sticks, hay, wool, leaves ; sometimes adopts an old 

 crow's nest. 



Eggs, 2, 3. Dingy white, and either plain or blotched and spotted 

 with red-brown, chiefly at the latter end. 



Honey Buzzard, Falco apivorus. 



Situation. Trees in thick woods ; not uncommon in the New 

 Forest, Hampshire. 



Materials. Boughs and twigs of trees broken off with the leaves 

 on, wool, hay. The only reliable description I have read is by Mr. 

 Willmot, in the ' Zoologist ' (Zool. 437) ; " The nest, a very large one, 

 was placed in the fork of a beech tree, and was built of sticks of con- 

 siderable size, with which were intermixed twigs with the leaves on ; 

 the lining was composed of leaves and wool." 



Eggs, 1 — 3. Yellowish white, spotted and stained with red-brown. 

 Marsh Harrier, Falco ceruginosus. 



Situation. In those tussocks of grass or sedge so observable in 

 marshy places, and which are elevated some two or three feet above 

 the ground. 



Materials. Sticks, dried sedge and other grasses. 



